Hi so I bought a Volvo from a dealership. While test driving we heard a clicking noise when turning the car so we talked to the dealership and they told us any cost after $800 they would help fix. They also told us there was a brand new transmission. So we bought the car well we have spent 500 trying to fix it. Well then my husband was driving it to work and the transmission wouldn’t shift. Called the dealership and they told us to take it to a mechanic. We had them wait about three weeks before giving the OK. Now it has been 2 months and it was about a month of calling and never getting an answer or call back so I called another shop and got the managers name and number who was the same guy we had been dealing with. Well there has been excuse after excuse then he told me it was the solenoids which were under warranty. Now he tells it’s the TCM and transfer case and has upped the price another grand. It has been two weeks since then and he still has no update saying they are trying to get parts from salvaged vehicles. I don’t know what to do or how to approach him to get my car fixed and back to me.
You bought the car even after a test drive indicated a possible problem? Without getting it checked by your mechanic? Serious mistakes.
Exactly what kind of warrantee did the dealer supply? or was it “as is”?
You need to talk to a lawyer. Get all your paperwork together and keep a record of any telephone conversations. Possibly small claims court may be the best approach.
Does that mean that you had to spend 800.00 before they would do anything.
I guess this is piling on but from now on if there is even 1 question about the used vehicle you are looking at just move on and find something else.
Without having all sides of this problem (dealer-you-repair shop ) there is not a way to give any usable advice.
I agree with Bill, but right now you have a problem that you need help with. Hopefully it’ll be an education, albeit an expensive one. Never trust a used car salesman and never buy a used car with an obvious problem.
The only thing I can offer at this point is to contact the state Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Affairs and file a formal complaint. It may not help, but if this used car dealer is as shady as he sounds, he may not want the AG investigating his practices. He might beg you to let him buy the car back and pay for all other damages to you.
I have bought cars before with problems that I thought were small and I haven’t been REALLY disappointed. That was years ago. Now; for anybody reading this, I too recommend not buying any car that has problems during the test drive. I have no real advice for the Volvo problem but I do hope the repairs won’t be much higher than the $800 which was mentioned.
Well, look, I’ve bought cars with problems too. But I knew what they were, knew what it would cost me to fix, and that came off of the purchase price.
Heck, my favorite car was bought that way. My MR2 had a badly slipping clutch when I bought it. $1,000 came off the purchase price, and it got driven straight from the lady’s house to a shop to have it replaced (I was living in an apartment at the time and there was no way I could do it myself).
But, you’ve gotta know what you’re doing and what you’re getting into. If you’re not mechanically inclined and you’re buying from a dealership then the line is “This will be fixed before I agree to buy the car.”
I had trouble following what the mechanics have done since then, but it sounds like the dealership sent you to a non-dealership mechanic, which is weird because you’d think they’d want the business since you have to pay $800 up front. And it sounds like the dealership is waffling around with you on whether or not they will honor that “above $800” promise, which makes me wonder if you have it in writing.
If you don’t, then the agreement is legally binding (oral contracts are) but it’s also worth the paper it’s written on – i.e., it’s your word against the dealerships whether the agreement actually happened, and so all the dealership has to do is lie.
That’s about all I can tell you, because there’s no way to know from what you posted what is wrong with the car.
I don’t want to discourage the OP from seeking all possible avenues for relief, but unless she and her husband were given a written warranty, nothing that the dealer (allegedly) stated regarding a warranty is going to be worth anything in a legal arena.
Do you have a written warranty, stating that information?
In legal terms, only the verbiage that is contained within the four corners of the purchase contract is legally binding. No matter what might have been stated by the guy from the dealership, you cannot modify a written contract with anything verbal.
Only a written addendum–signed by both parties to the purchase–can modify the purchase contract. That is one of the iron-clad principles of contract law.
I test drove a used car, I hear a clunking, We’ll fix it they say. Stick caught fixed it! Test drove again, still clunking, goodbye. Looked at one that had bondo to try fix a trans leak, saw a few drops on the ground and saw the bondo.
Sorry for your trouble, First stab at the cat would be talking to the dealer, rehash all the details, work out a deal for another car after being inspected by a mechanic you trust.
What exactly does that mean?
No way to tell without seeing the car, but I think if I had this problem I’d negotiate some kind of deal w/the shop where they keep the car and let me off the hook from any future bother. I’d just eat the cost of the purchase price, and consider it a lesson learned the hard way…
OP, next used car you buy, the advice here is pretty consistent: Before writing any checks, have it inspected by your own inde mechanic. Ask for a pre-purchase inspection. Costs about $100 and is money well spent. Sorry you are having this difficulty, but suggest to try see if you can just free yourself from this burden and move on. The shop might buy into your idea where they get ownership of the car, as they don’t particularly care how long it takes to fix it, they’ll work on it in their spare time. Worse case they’ll sell it as scrap. Best of luck.
i took my vehicle to be repaired . it was getting a new engine put in . the shop told me itnwould take 5 to 7 days for the engine to get there and a couple of days to put in then a extra day to make sure the vehicle was running correctly . the nrw motor was paid for in the middle of june and here it is almost september. is this normal? ive reached out to him several times and the first time they told me motor was on back order then was told the motor that was sent to them had no oil pressure .
Unfortunately, any business that doesn’t meet its commitment isn’t really that unusual. Having problems with parts isn’t that unusual. However, two months is excessive unless you’re convinced the shop is doing everything it can to get you finished. You obviously are not if you’re asking here.